


Let's Get Down To Business To Defeat Harassment

by Hamiltalian



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Gen, Trans Character, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-27 14:24:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19014706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hamiltalian/pseuds/Hamiltalian
Summary: After a bad experience at a Pride Parade, Maria takes John to a place that never fails to make him feel masculine: the gym.(A songfic based around "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" from Mulan.)





	Let's Get Down To Business To Defeat Harassment

John was stoic and silent as he stood in the bathroom, washing the blood from his knuckles. Not his blood. It rarely was. But the person who he’d drawn it from deserved it. He had the audacity to call John a girl, at pride, where he was supposed to be accepted, just because he was built a little different. And… Sometimes, he couldn’t help but wonder if those who said the same were right.

Maria knocked on the bathroom door before letting herself in, smiling softly in John’s direction. “You sure showed him, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t show anyone anything…” John scoffed. “I punched a guy for calling me a girl, but…” He glanced in the mirror, at the binder over his chest and at the spot in his pants where most guys would have a bulge. “I can’t stop wondering if he’s right..”

Maria frowned and went over, shutting the water off. “That’s crazy talk, John. You’re a man and you’ve been living like a man for years.”

“Yeah, but-”

“No buts.” Maria paused for a second before grinning, an idea brewing in her head. “Out of your binder and into your sports bra, killer. I know what you need.”

John found himself at the local gym not half an hour later, nearly empty at such a late hour as two in the morning. “Maria..”

“No, you need this. Come on, weights.”

John sighed, but followed her.

“One more thing,” she began before tossing him an old MP3 player. “You need the right motivation.”

John shrugged, but put the earbuds in and played the song on full blast, letting the sound of the drums beat against his ears.

[Let’s get down to business, to defeat the Huns]

John grabbed a couple of ten pound weights and began doing a few bicep curls.

[Did they send me daughters, when I asked for sons?]

He took deep breaths as he went on, not really feeling the gym trip right then.

[You’re the saddest bunch I ever met

But you can bet, before we’re through]

“Maria.. I can’t do this..”

[Mister, I’ll make a man out of you]

“Yes, you can. You know you can. Let’s try some cardio. We can come back to this.”

[Tranquil as a forest, but on fire within]

John kept his breath steady as Maria put him on a treadmill, glad she forced him into a sports bra rather than his binder.

[Once you find your center, you are sure to win]

But at least it was getting kind of easier, he supposed…

[You’re a spineless, pale pathetic lot

And you haven’t got a clue]

Maybe he wasn’t meant to ever be in a binder..

[Somehow I’ll make a man out of you]

“John, I can hear your negative thoughts from here. Don’t quit on me!”

John whined to himself.

[I’m never gonna catch my breath

Say good-bye to those who knew me]

Who the hell did Maria think he was, having him run for so fast for so long? Even she was struggling, he knew it.

[Boy, was I a fool in school for cutting gym]

Yeah, Maria was suffering, but she was going to get John through this.

[This guy’s got ‘em scared to death

Hope he doesn’t see right through me]

And, at that point, John was just there to humor her. Maybe this workout thing wouldn’t always work, not with everything in his mind.

[Now I really wish that I knew how to swim]

And, at that point, Maria would kill John if he quit. She was in much worse shape than he was.

[Be a man

We must be swift as a coursing river]

“Come on, John, almost there!”

John groaned and tossed off his t-shirt, throwing it at Maria as he ran.

She tutted, but caught it. This was some progress.

[Be a man

With all the force of a great typhoon]

John pushed through as the time counted down, but each second was wearing him down more and more.

[Be a man

With all the strength of a raging fire

Mysterious as the dark side of the moon]

And, despite the torture that he’d been put through, he made it out alive.

[Time is racing toward us, till the Huns arrive

Heed my every order, and you might survive]

John felt his face burning as a couple of other guys - creeps who clearly just came for the free show - wolf whistled. He snatched his shirt back from Maria and yanked it on.

[You’re unsuited for the rage of war

So pack up, go home, you’re through]

“I’m serious, Maria.. I can’t do this anymore..”

“Bullshit. You can probably bench more than both of them combined,” she said quietly to him. “Show them how much more man you are than them.

[How could I make a man out of you?]

“I can’t,” John whimpered. “Please..”

[Be a man

We must be swift as a coursing river]

“I’m not letting you give up on yourself. Come on, John. Do this for me, then we can go home.”

[Be a man

With all the force of a great typhoon]

John wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed. “Fine..” Maria could be more stubborn than he was, when she wanted to be.

[Be a man

With all the strength of a raging fire]

Maria took John back to the weights, holding his hand a bit tighter as she heard the group of men following them. “Don’t let them tell you what you are, what you know you are.”

[Mysterious as the dark side of the moon]

And… John couldn’t deny it. Deep down, he knew he was a man.

[Be a man

We must be swift as a coursing river]

He laid back on the bench as Maria loaded on the weights, ignoring the snide comments from the side, the strangers doubting his strength. Who were they to say how strong he was? Even if he had been a woman, who were they to say what he couldn’t do?

[Be a man

With all the force of a great typhoon]

“You got this, John. Show them what you’re made of,” Maria encouraged, standing as a spotter for John.

John took a deep breath and grabbed the bar, feeling a sudden burst of adrenaline. There was a reason the gym always helped. It was hard for him not to feel masculine when he was lifting 200 pounds.

[Be a man

With all the strength of a raging fire]

And as he began lifting the weights, the way the men shut up and left shot his confidence to the sky.

[Mysterious as the dark side of the moon]

It made him remember: he was a man. No matter what he was said when he was born, he was a man. Nobody could change that. Nobody could invalidate his masculinity but himself.


End file.
